World Art Utopia

Sign Post Forest

Posts at the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon, crowded with town signs, licence plates and homemade boards left by travellers
Artwork FileWatson Lake, Canada

Sign Post Forest

SeenDec 2019

Carl K. Lindley (first sign) and visitors · Watson Lake, Canada

Photo: gillfoto / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); resized from the SAU archive.

Rows of visitor-made signs fill a historic site at Watson Lake’s highway junction. The collection began with Carl K. Lindley’s sign for his hometown in 1942; that first sign is gone, but the habit of leaving a hometown marker continued. Source Source Reported

Seen Dec 2019. Evidence date: 2019-12-27. Dated reporting, not confirmation of present condition. Source Reported

💡 4 things to know

  1. A hometown, far awayCarl K. Lindley put up a sign for his hometown while working on the Alaska Highway in 1942. Source Reported
  2. The first sign read DanvilleLindley’s family history gives the first sign as Danville, Illinois, 2,835 miles. Source Reported
  3. The original did not surviveSmithsonian reported that the original sign was lost and that Lindley returned with his wife in 1992 to put up a replica. Source Reported
  4. A protected, changing collectionThe Yukon designated the Sign Post Forest a territorial historic site on 30 August 2013. Source Checked

📍 Where it is

Junction of the Alaska Highway and Robert Campbell Highway · Watson Lake, Yukon, Canada Source Reported

Open in Maps

Map pin is approximate; use the named site or address to locate the subject.

🗓️ Sightings

  1. 1942

    Lindley puts up his hometown sign

  2. 1992

    Lindleys return for the 50th anniversary

  3. 201330 Aug

    Territorial historic site

  4. 20177 Aug

    Sign-covered posts photographed by gillfoto

  5. 201927 Dec

    Smithsonian report on the collection

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.

✅ The facts

Started by
Carl K. Lindley Source Source Checked
Started
1942 Source Checked
First sign
Danville, Illinois, 2,835 miles Source Reported
Original sign
Lost; replica put up in 1992, according to Smithsonian Source Reported
Historic site
Territorial historic site since 30 August 2013 Source Checked

🔗 Related

All sources & image credits

Photo: gillfoto / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); resized from the SAU archive.

Last checked: 26 October 2026 · How we verify art